Profiteroles! #glutenfree #dairyfree

At a recent gluten free baking class that I chose to take, the instructor shook her head vehemently and went “just trust me, you can’t make choux pastry gluten free”. If you know me, I took that on as a challenge – and when I saw that the Great British Bake Off was doing a “free from” week, I decided that this would be my 0pportunity to prove this lady wrong. Just because, you know, I can. So I eagerly awaited Wednesday night to watch what marvellous baked goods the GBBO would come up with, only to be disappointed. Why? Because the gluten free item was a pitta. Come on. You can do better than that Paul Hollywood – I mean, I know you’re not a fan of allergen free baking and errantly think that “gluten free” is just a fad, but you can still do better than that. And a dairy free ice cream? Well….that’s just easy….albeit, in the time in the tent and the pressure you’re under, maybe not so much. At least sugar free showed a few options.

Anyway, I was so uninspired and let down by this week’s Great British Bake Off, that I was tempted to just do a plain gluten, egg, soy and sugar free vanilla cake with allergen free icing…just to prove that these simple things can be done so well without allergens. Instead I decided to stick with my plan and do something I’ve never done before, gluten free or not….make choux pastry. In fact, I wanted to make a croquembouche!! And I was even gearing up for it by watching great “how to” videos like this one from Ann Reardon that I absolutely love. “How to cook that” is one of my favourite Youtube channels – her instructions are always clear and straightforward.

In the end I didn’t go as far as to make a croquembouche because I was really short on time. Next week is my brother in law’s birthday, AND his sister’s birthday and we all happened to be in the same city for once, so I wanted to get something baked and done from them, especially since the sister has been drooling all over her computer screen at my recent weekly yummies. So, I declined an invitation to their friend’s house and got to baking on Friday evening after work. It took me three full hours and I finished as they were pulling into my driveway at 11:30 pm, but I did it. I made birthday profiteroles…and just before they walked through the door, I realized that I had bought birthday candles, but no matches or lighter. Oh well.

So they only stayed for a few minutes, and I ended up sending the rose champagne I bought home with them rather than us celebrating because it was really late, they had been driving and my back was completely shot (I swear I have never felt that sick and horrible – it really brought the warning from my friend Bei who has been telling me to slow down to the forefront of my mind…or in her words “do you want to end up in the hospital?!”) from standing in bedroom slippers for three hours straight. I should know better – if you’re baking for long times, wear proper shoes. I just did not realize that two different flavours of profiteroles would take that long….and you know I had to make them pretty. Cause I’m a glutton for punishment.

Anyway, here’s my recipe for gluten and dairy free profiteroles with dairy free pastry cream. The two flavours that I made were lavender and dark chocolate and lemon meringue, but you can use this base recipe for just plain profiteroles, eclairs or even a plain croquembouche….or just switch the flavours out for your favourites.

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This post is part of the Great Blogger Bake Off 2015 and is inspired by the Great British Bake Off 2015, Week 5 – Alternative Ingredients!

I am also linking up with another bake off group this week in an attempt to win some lovely Silver Mushroom goodies for my kitchen.

UPDATE: Guess who won star baker with Silver Mushroom as well this week?! Yep you read that right. Double star baker baby!! #evenmorechuffed. I believe I won this awesome little casserole dish and can barely sit still waiting for it to arrive!!

Click on the badge below for the link to that page – some awesome stuff there I tell you!

Hi Kirsty. Lemon has somehow become one of my favourite flavours. Also, my Mom did not make pie much growing up, and made a lemon meringue pie once for me when I was really sick. So lemon meringue holds fond memories for me because it is the one time that I remember getting my Mom all to myself as she fed me lemon meringue and read Anne of Green Gables to me with my head in her lap. So lemon meringue anything will always be at the top of my flavour list. At the same time, the lavender and dark chocolate one was awesome – something a little different with an amazing little crunch of the chocolate shell. A little experience by itself. Thanks for commenting 🙂

Can’t believe you were told you couldn’t make these gluten free utter rubbish! And they look amazingly yummy! I filled ones with dairy free custard which was honestly to die for haha I’m going to have a go at this recipe thanks for sharing x

Hi Hannah – I know right? And they are about to market their own GFflour blend. It is a good one it really – never say never (and not in the cheesy teeny bopper song way). Allergen free is always possible. You just gotta be willing to experiment!

wow you went to such effort Serena and should be really proud of yourself and your wonderful profiteroles. A lot more complicated than a free from cake! the shine on the chocolate ones is lovely! yummy i bet
thank you for linking up xx

Thanks for commenting again Jenny. I thought I needed to step it up because I always do free from. I did end up making the plain vanilla cake last night. And had a slice hot out of the oven (yummy). Can’t wait for the Luv Luv to get back from away though – cause otherwise I may end up eating it all.

[…] blogger goes over and beyond the call of the bake off and Serena did this! She only went and made a duo of GF and DF profiteroles – something which a GF cookery instructor told her was impossible! Well, clearly it is not, […]